Textile thread guide and method of making same



May 16, 1933. J. A. WILLIAMS 1,908,717

TEXTILE THREAD GUIDE AND METHOD OF MAKING SAME I Filed Jan. 22, '1932 gmwm Patented May 16, 1933 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICEv JOHN A. WILLIAMS, OF MORRISVILLE, PENNSYLVANIA,' ASSIGNOR TO MITCHELL- IBISSELL (30., OF TRENTON, JERSEY, A CORPORATION OF NEW JERSEY TEXTILE THREAD GUIDE AND METHOD OF MAKING SAME Application filed January 22, 1932. Serial No. 588,183.

This invention relates to textile thread guides and a method of making the same. Its object is to provide a guide of that kind made of ceramic material, particularly porcelain, which will wear longer and function more satisfactorily than the guides now in use.

The employment of porcelain guides in textile machinery is well known. Such guides, so far as I am aware, have always been made from a body of porcelain or ceramic material to which is applied an outer coating of first these cuts or scores are too small to be detected, and yet they injuriously affect the threads because they tend to catch and break the fibers thereof. Much damage to the threads may, therefore, be done before the glazed guides are cut sufficiently to enable the cuts to be easily detected. The damage thus done before the guides are discarded may be much greater than the cost of the guides. When the glaze is cut to a substantial extent, the glazed guides are totally useless because the edges of the glaze where it is cut tend to form sharp projections or knife edges which catch and break the threads. These difficulties in the cutting or scoring of guides by the action of silk or rayon threads are well recognized in the art.

The present invention aims to overcome the foregoing difliculties encountered in using glazed guides. Generally stated, my invention consists in forming guides of the kind in question from suitable porcelain or ceramic material without applying any glaze to the surface thereof, and after the guide is thus formed, I subject the outer unglazed surface thereof to a smoothing and polishing action, preferably by using a finely divided abrasive material by which the surface is polished and rendered smooth and even.

In forming guides in this way, I use a procelain or ceramic material which has a compact and finely grained structure and which is susceptible of taking a smooth polish. The guides may be formed in any well: known manner employed in making porcelain articles. I prefer to make them by what is known as the wet or casting process that is, by using plaster molds into which the porcelain is poured in molten liquid form.

In some cases, the extrusion method may be preferable, in whichv method the wet plastic porcelain material is forced through holes in a suitable machine. After thearticles are shaped or formed as desired, they are baked in a furnace in the usual manner employed in preparing porcelain articles. The details employed in the shaping of the guides and in the baking or burning of the same are not of particular importance.

The guides produced as above described are, of course, unglazed, and the surface thereof is more or less rough and uneven. The next step consists in smoothing and polishing the same so that the surfaces thereof, Which'are to receive and guide the threads, will be smooth and even and polished. Tc effect this smoothing and polishing, I employ a finely divided abrasive material of any suitable character and a polishing or buffing wheel, preferably of felt, mounted in a suitable polishing machine. One form of polishing or abrading material found effective is finely ground flint. The polishing or bufling is generally performed by hand by pressing the guide against the bufling wheel to which the abrasive material is applied.

My invention is not limited to any particular form or shapeof guide but may be applied to guides of any form over which threads are adapted to pass. For purposes of illustration, the accompanying drawing shows one form of guide to which the invention is applicable. In this drawing, the guide is shown provided with a shank 10 adapted to be fastened in the machine in which it is used. Beyond the shank 10, the

tion consisting of spaced arms 11 and 12, between which and over which the thread is adapted to travel, The guide is unglazed, but the portions 11 and 12, which are intended to form the guides for the thread, are smoothed and polished to make the surface thereof smooth and even throughout so that the threads will readily pass over the same. A guide made as heretofore described possesses very substantial advantages over a glazed porcelain guide. In the first place, the porcelain body of my improved guide is much harder than any glaze which can be made so that, when the surface of the un glazed guide is smoothed and polished, the surface thereof, being harder, will wear several times longer than a glazed guide. In other words, my unglazed polished guide will not be cut by the threads as readily as a glazed guide and will, therefore, last much longer. Also, my unglazed polished guide actually presents a smoother and more even surface to the thread than a glaze guide, due to the fact that the glazing when applied often forms minute points or projections which are apt to catch and break the threads. Furthermore, I have found that even when my unglazed guide is slightly out or grooved, it will not catch or cut or injure the threads to any extent. As already noted, a glazed guide which has been cut will greatly damage the threads, even when the cut is so slight that it cannot be detected, and that, when the out becomes greater, the guide is practically useless and must be discarded because the cut edges of the glaze form sharp knife-like edges which catch and break or cut the threads. On the other hand, with my unglazed polished guide, even when somewhat out or worn, no sharp edges are formed to injure the threads, and such guides can, therefore, be used much longer than the glazed guides.

Actual tests of my improved polished guides show that they will last several times longer than glazed guides and give better service than the latter. While my polished unglazed guides are somewhat more expensive than glazed guides, due to the hand operation necessary 1n polishing the same, this increased expense is more than-overbalanced signature.

JOHN A. WILLIAMS.

by the fact that the polished guides will wear much longer and give better service than the glazed guides.

. Having thus described the invention, What is claimed as new and desired to be secured by Letters Patent is:

1. As an article of manufacture, a guide for textile threads consisting of a body of unglazed ceramic material having a smooth and polished surface thereon for guiding the threads.

2. As an article of manufacture, a guide for textile threads consisting of a body of unglazed porcelain having a smooth polished surface thereon for guiding the threads. 

